Has Anyone Tried To Complete A "One Stamp From Every Country" Collection?

Hello All,

Some years ago I had a similar thought, but instead of collecting one stamp from as many countries as possible I decided to make it one (or more) booklet(s).

However, there is a problem, in as much as to the best of my knowledge there is no catalogue for World Booklet Issues.
There are a couple of good dealers price lists available which are handy for reference, for example Booklets International, based in Holland.
Another problem is the scarcity of early booklets and they, of course, are much harder to find than an individual stamp. The scarcity is reflected in the prices.

One disadvantage to the booklet collection is the difficulty of displaying stamps. Folded booklets are OK but stitched ones are a problem.

The second scan shows the St. Helena page and as they are stitched or stapled I am loathe to damage them by scanning them 'open'.

This could be overcome, I suppose, by opening the book, taking a digital photo and downloading to the computer but that would be a time consuming job and as this is a 'sideline' collection I am leaving it as it is.
I do realise that this is another collection that I will never have 'complete'. Some countries have only issued one booklet, usually early on and examples such as Belgian Congo 1937 priced in my (out of date list) at DM 225 and Bayern 1911 DM 3800 will not be gracing my pages.

The title page of my collection is shown here as is one of the country pages. At one stage the whole collection was available for viewing on our web site, but due to lack of interest we removed it to make way for other stuff.

Currently the collection covers 98 countries from Aland to Zil Elwagne Sesel and I am still hoping to add more.

Regards to all,
Ron

I am trying to do that with postal stationery. It started as that, then migrated to all pre-1900 (where applicable), then morphed 5 or 6 more times. Needless to say I do have a bunch. I keep trying as I do not have several of the vastly expensive ones, as I can never find them to even look at much less purchase.

Another possibility is to collect components of countries. Let me explain; this may work best for islands or colonies. Example, I have quite a few used stamps from St. Thomas & Prince Islands with legible Sao Tome, or Thome, cancels. But have only three with legible cancels from Ilha do Principe.

Another example is Portuguese India. Almost all of my legible cancels are from various towns in Goa. But there were three other enclaves. I have one legible cancelled stamp each from Damao and Diu. My best one is an early 1950s stamp cancelled in Silvassa, a small village in the Nagar Aveli enclave that was taken over by India in 1954. I have yet to find a Timor stamp cancelled in Oecusse, the enclave within west Timor, which is part of Indonesia.

I have an album with the Smithsonian "Stamp of Every Country" pages in it. I like to do is a secondary collection interest. If I acquire some stamps I will check if they fill any of my holes in the album. It's not something I actively partake in, but at times it is a nice break from my other interests.

just wondering if anyobne has tried just the 20th and 21st century for this task. And more importantly has anyone seen pages (i.e Smithsonian) for such a task. I'm guessing it would have to be a personal effort to create the pages.

How about a source to start such a collection. Worldwide lots seem to have a ton of duplicates and the same countries always. Does anyone have a suggestion for inexpensive packets for the more obscure countries that don't seem to make it into the packets.

I'm thinking even 2 or 3 stamps from each country muight be doable if I limit it to 20th century and avoid things like occupied territories and leave it to places that actually appear on an old Rand McNally world map

Number one's

http://numones.com/

http://postalmuseum.si.edu/stampgal...-Country.pdf

Here is an earlier discussion of the Smithsonian effort:

https://goscf.com/t/36353

There might be a few other ideas there.

I printed out all the pages for the Smithsonian album, but I have not started filling it yet. I love stamps with maps on them, and I thought I'd try to find a map or indigenous animal, plant, landform or something truly representative of each country. I just haven't gotten serious about it yet. Still on my to-do list.

I've been working on the Smithsonian album. I've added 30+ entities not originally in the album. Out of a total of 826 entities, I have 593.

Collecting one stamp per issuing entity is called ASFE = A Stamp From Everywhere. There are thousands of ASFE collectors worldwide, I have been in contact with more than 100 active ones.....*** Edited by Staff - Please Review the rules that you agreed to when you registered. ***.

I do not believe it is possible to complete the "absolute" collection. After more than 50 years of collectng ASFE, my wantlist is still some 3000 items...but depends on the list you use. The "official" list of 780 ASFE is workable, top items being Chorezm (Khorezm) and Buchara (Bokhara).

I took a look at the Smithsonian pages. I do not like the landscape format -- YMMV. Creating DIY pages for ASFE one of the many items on my stamp collecting to-do list.

I've been working on this one for years, too. Got 730 at the moment, but still a long way to go. I call it my "Atlas Collection," a counterpart to my "Gazetteer Collection" of worldwide town cancels, which totals 70,000+ at the moment.
I would agree with those who doubt that there can ever be THE one absolute list for this collection. I started with a list of every entity separately listed by the Scott catalog plus places that changed names on some stamps(i.e., how about the many versions of St. Kitts-Nevis?).
Scott doesn't list many locals. I've added many, many to my original Scott list. In the end, the list is what one makes it for oneself, though the Smithsonian is a good one to start with.
And how about local carriers? bogus issues? phantom countries?
I would be willing to exchange want lists with others looking to fill holes in this collecton. Why not help one another?

Wantlists (or vice-versa havelists) are the basic tool I use in my ASFE Slovakia club and mine is published there, updated monthly..... Naturally, I do not expect to get offered very many items, as after 50+ years of ASFE collecting I am rather advanced, other are too expensive, but every now and then I get offered something useful and we strike a deal....and you are welcome to send your wantlists. Many times I have purchased sets which I break for ASFE partners...

Thanks Peter Valdner , this subject interest me greatly . I and many others hope you continue posting on the ASFE .The ASFE should be in a major language to attach more interest and members .
I would welcome you and your members to be part of this community ,maybe you could talk with Don {51STUDEBAKER} and see if a separate heading can be establish to develop this further . Other members here would help out to keep it active. Please continue posting those interesting articles you have been writing and developing your club further .

FWIW, Chrome had no problem translating the ASFE pages to English.